If there is one thing that car guys can agree on, it's that they hate to repair rust. It doesn't matter how diligent you are to try and eliminate it from your car, it will always seem to find its way back. The problem is, our cars are upwards of 30-years old, and they do have rust. So how does a guy make sure that it (rust that is) doesn't come back? The answer is simple, use all-new sheet metal. Although not impossible having a completely "new" body delivered to your door does alleviate the rust issue, but other problems come into play. But luckily, a lot of new panels-and even complete car sections are starting to hit the market.
This is a good thing for guys building cars, us included. When we started working on our Superbee, we found that the doors were not only rusty, but they were doors from a Plymouth. That may not sound like much of a problem, but Plymouth doors have the interior door locks in a different location than Dodge doors. So it was decided that we needed another door, but where would w find a door that didn't need some kind of body work? We found that Roseville Chrysler/Jeep in Roseville, Michigan, just happens to carry a lot of brand new sheet metal parts for Mopar muscle cars. Not only that, their claim to fame is that they can be your one-stop shop for all you're A-, B-, and E-Body needs. Lucky for us, they happen to have the door we needed in stock, and we were able to continue working on the Bee. Although it's new, how does it look and fit?
Just by looking at the doors...
Just by looking at the doors front edge, all looks well.
If good quality metal is not available, or you just don't want to repair rust, having this alternative available is a great option. There are a few minor variances with the new metal as opposed to the original stuff, but whether or not those variances will be noticeable to the average onlooker, depends on if you point them out. If you don't have the opportunity to place the doors side-by-side, you would not notice much of a difference.
Overall, we're glad we were able to get a new door, and thanks to the folks at Roseville Chrysler/Jeep, our rebuild can continue, and so can yours.
These side-by-side shots show...
These side-by-side shots show the interior side of the door. Immediately, you'll notice the absence of the....
....remote mirror hole. This...
....remote mirror hole. This is good if your car doesn't have remote mirrors. If it does, simply drill the hole.
One concern we did have was...
One concern we did have was in some of the small details like the finishing of this door edge....
....The welding and the grind...
....The welding and the grind marks are not quite the way the factory did it. It can be easily fixed, and it's not rust.
When looking at the trailing...
When looking at the trailing edge of the doors, the only thing that looks out of place on the new metal is the absence of rust
When it came to the window...
When it came to the window opening, we did find another small discrepancy. Our factory door opening is 7/8 inch.....
....The new door has an opening...
....The new door has an opening of 1 inch. It's only an 1/8-inch difference, but we thought we would show you.
Installing it on the car,...
Installing it on the car, the hinge....
....points lined up just like...
....points lined up just like they should.
We did run into a slight issue...
We did run into a slight issue with the latch mechanism.....
....The hole in the door needed...
....The hole in the door needed a little "massaging".
Finally, the top, leading...
Finally, the top, leading edge of the door will also need a little massage, nothing disastrous, but again, we just wanted to let you know.
There you have it, an all-new...
There you have it, an all-new door that fits the car, needs minimal work, and eliminates rust. We would say that's a really good deal.